WHILE most people remember Joe Brown as one of Britain's first pop stars, my early memories of the original chirpy Cockney are slightly different. Throughout my '80s childhood, the 72-year-old was the star of my home town's pantomime, appearing every Christmas as Buttons alongside various dames and damsels. Joe laughs when I remind him of his days at the Theatre Royal in Windsor: "I did eight consecutive years there but I'm too old to go through the mangle these days and anyway you can't even throw the sweets out any more in case you hit the little bleeders in the eye!"

While he might have left pantomime behind, Joe is still on the road more than 50 years since he first backed the likes of Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran as a jobbing musician and next week he returns to Southport where one of the UK's original rock guitar pioneers will remind audiences why a generation of musicians still regard him as the best. "I've been on tour since I was 18 mate," he chuckles. "I usually do two 60-date tours a year. It keeps me active I suppose."

It was over half a century ago in 1958, as Lonnie Donegan was ruling the charts with ‘Rock Island Line’, that Joe joined his first band, the Spacemen Skiffle Group, at the age of 17. Three years later he was the resident lead guitarist on producer Jack Good’s groundbreaking TV show Boy Meets Girls. He found himself backing visiting American stars like Vincent, Cochran and Johnny Cash. (and that’s Joe’s rockabilly lead guitar you can hear all over Billy Fury’s classic 1960 album “The Sound Of Fury”....) 1960 was the year when the Spacemen became Joe Brown’s backing band The Bruvvers as the hits began to roll in, starting with ‘The Darktown Strutters Ball’ and reaching a crescendo in 1962/3 with ‘A Picture Of You’, ‘It Only Took A Minute’ and ‘That’s What Love Will Do’.

During this time it was Joe who was headlining British tours that featured Del Shannon, Dion, the Crystals… and an up and coming band called the Beatles who supported Joe on July 26, 1962 at the Cambridge Hall. "The Beatles were big in the Liverpool area but weren't big enough to fill the big theatres," explains Joe. "I had a hit record at the time and Brian Epstein booked me so he could give the boys a taste of the larger venues. By the end of 1962 that was it, whoosh, they'd gone. They were fantastic and have done more for English music than anyone I can think of."

It was George Harrison who was Joe's biggest fan and after he sang Joe's big hit Pictures of You on the Beatles' first radio broadcast, the two became close friends right up until George's death in 2001. "George used to do my songs in his set," remembers Joe. "When I moved to Henley on Thames near where George lived, he phoned me up and said 'I hear you're my new neighbour - you better bring your guitar around'. About two or three times a week we would sit around and play the ukuleles or guitars. He was a fantastic man and a great man and I miss him very much." It was a sad irony then when Joe won a brand new world-wide audience with his show-stopping appearance at 'The Concert For George', staged at London’s Royal Albert Hall in tribute to the former Beatle.

Joe was asked by George's wife Olivia Harrison and Eric Clapton to sing ‘Here Comes The Sun”, ‘That’s The Way It Goes’ and to close the show with ‘I’ll See You In My Dreams’, a favourite song of George’s.Joe's poignant rendition of the 1920s standard brought the house down and today is credited for almost single-handedly reviving interest in the ukulele.

"I did have some idea of the impact it would have because we had been closing our shows with it and George would come and see our shows and he loved that song. Olivia asked me if I'd close the show with it and it was a bit nerve racking after all that rock n roll to get up there with a little bit of wood an no microphone but something like that at the end of a boisterous rock n roll gig had a real effect.

"They used to sing that song when I was a kid growing up in the pub and it's been with me for a long time. I get loads of letters and requests to play it and people are always saying 'oh we played that at my granddad's funeral' and so they should because it is a lovely little song."

Despite his work ethic, Joe still finds time to relax by indulging in his love of carpentry ("I make all kinds of things like furniture and I've even made a few rocking horses") and next year he plans to finally take a break from touring.

"I might have a holiday next spring. I go to Nashville a lot and I want to spend a bit more time out there.

"It's pleasure really although I do a bit of songwriting out there too. I've got more friends out there than I have here because most of my friends have either left the country or died. One of my best pals was Alvin Lee from Ten Years After and Alvin died suddenly a few years ago as did Gary Moore. Then there was George of course and Jon Lord of Deep Purple so I'm kind of left on my own these days but that's alright because it comes to us all."

Suddenly worried that all this reminiscing has upset him, I apologise but in typical fashion Joe 's soon making light of the subject and chuckling as he signs off with a few health tips for me.

"My doctor said to me if you eat properly and drink lots of water and do exercise eventually you'll get sick and die. Worth remembering that."

COMPETITION: We have three pairs of tickets available for you to win for Joe's gig at Southport Theatre on Thursday, April 17 at 7.30pm. Please email jamie.bowman@trinitymirror.com with the answer to the following question by 12pm Wednesday, April 16.

Q. What was the name of Joe Brown's daughter Sam Brown's 1989 top ten UK hit?